Opera releases beta version of new WebKit based web browser for Android

Opera has made a beta version (Build 14) of its new WebKit based mobile browser live for Android devices on the Google Play Store and its own website. The company had showcased the new browser at the Mobile World Congress, after announcing the transition to the WebKit rendering engine a few days back. The browser supports phones running Android 2.3 and above. However, it doesn't support Android tablets at the moment.

The browser offers fasters rendering thanks to the new WebKit engine and a cleaner user interface. It also supports data compression and server side rendering through the Off-Road mode that also lets users save on data costs and load web pages faster. The off-road mode is turned off by default.

The browser features the usual Speed dial launcher for popular websites in addition to saved pages. Interestingly, the browser also offers a Discover page where it offers curated content across categories such as Top Stories, Arts, Business, Entertainment, Food, Health, Lifestyle, Living, Motoring, News, Science, Sports, Technology, and Travel. The content can be customised according to one's country and the browser also features a Hindi feed for the Indian region. Unfortunately, the content can't be customised further by the user.The browser also doesn't support changing the default search engine (Google).

The browser also sports regular features such as a private browsing mode, a download manager, popup blocker, an option to saved pages for offline reading and the ability to change the user agent of the browser.

Opera has not given a timeline for the release of the final version of the browser or for the iOS version, which is also expected to release soon. Last month, Opera had announced that it had reached 300 million monthly users across all its browser products on phones, tablets, TVs and computers.